The present invention relates to the field of digital content delivery and, more particularly, to allowing presentation control of immediate content interrupting digital television channel programming.
Frequently, there are several current events such as a disaster and/or an emergency that can often be urgent and can require immediate attention. For example, current events such an earthquake, a plane crash, an oil spill, a tornado watch, a flash flood, or a snow storm can be urgent events which can affect many residents of a local area. When such events occur, a broadcaster and/or content delivery provider (e.g., cable/satellite company) can select a time to deliver event information as live breaking news while regular programming can be running during the scheduled time. For example, a viewer's favorite show can be interrupted by a special report informing the viewer about an ongoing situation. Typically the length of a live breaking news bulletin can vary from very short (e.g., less than 1-2 minutes) to very long (e.g., over 15-30 minutes) depending on one or more factors such as severity level. Consequently, having news interrupting normal scheduled program can raise many issues which can negatively affect the viewer's experience. For example, viewers can be annoyed that the program they are watching can get abruptly interrupted by news not relevant to them.
One solution to minimize the interruption often utilizes scrolling text at the bottom of the TV screen. For example, the viewer may hear a beep to get their attention at the beginning following by the scrolling text. One disadvantage of this solution is the audio can often not be available. For example, when a viewer cannot see the scrolling text, the viewer can miss important information. Even when audio is available along with the text, it can still interrupt the current program. Further, the text can often be too small or can scroll too quickly for some viewers to view. Another disadvantage is this solution lacks video which can be extremely informative and useful to viewers. As such currently breaking news interrupts normal channel programming and can be too intrusive for many viewers.